A recent Government Accountability Office report on Section 232 tariff exclusions on steel and aluminum noted that the Commerce Department has tweaked a number of procedures in its exclusion application and decision-making process, but has not updated the guidance on its website to let the public know. It recommended that the department do so.
The Commerce Department set the 12-month 2022 value-added tariff preference level for certain apparel imported directly from Haiti eligible to receive duty-free treatment under the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity Through Partnership for Encouragement Act (HOPE). For the one-year period Dec. 20, 2021, through Dec. 19, 2022, the recalculated quantity of imports eligible for preferential treatment under the value-added TPL is 367,770,223 square meters equivalent (SME). Apparel articles entered in excess of this TPL will be subject to otherwise applicable duty rates.
The Commerce Department seeks nominees for its Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness, it said in a notice released Dec. 15. “Members shall be selected in a manner that ensures that the Committee remains balanced with respect to the diversity of the supply chain sector, including with regard to geographic location and company size,” Commerce said, with at least one member representing supply chain companies or associations, users of supply chains, transportation providers, ports, labor unions and academia, respectively. Commerce will accept nominations on a rolling basis for the current term, which began Nov. 10 and ends in November 2023, but will give immediate consideration to applications received by Dec. 29, it said.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and the United Kingdom's Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said they want to consult on steel and aluminum early next year, "with a view to combating global excess capacity and addressing outstanding concerns on US tariffs and UK rebalancing measures," according to a U.K. readout of the visit Dec. 8. It said that Trevelyan invited Raimondo to London for those further talks in January.
The Commerce Department will end 31 general approved exclusions from Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, it said in an interim final rule. A review of public comments submitted after the GAEs were approved in December (see 2012100047) led Commerce to determine 26 steel GAEs and four aluminum GAEs no longer meet the criteria, it said. "As a conforming change to a recent U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) decision, this rule also removes one additional steel GAE, Commerce said. The interim final rule takes effect 15 days after its publication date, which is currently scheduled for Dec. 9.